Popped a couple caps on a qfp proto board and started a reflow cycle. Dry run went OK. Unit was dropped pretty bad. Frame is out of whack and drawer bent. Seems to still work. Not sure if damage is shipping or existing as I didnt have time to test and inspect in the market. […]
Category Archives: tools
Weller WX 2021 soldering station teardown
Presslab tears down the Weller WX 2021 soldering station. He is hunting for the pinout of the front panel serial connector. He was able to identify the serial IC used, and with it the pinout. Via the forum.
Bus Pirate v3.6 added to the Fritzing library
Fritzing is an open source GUI based program that allows users to document their prototypes, share them with others, show them in a presentation, and create a pcb layout for professional manufacturing. Mikhail added the Bus Pirate v3.6 to their parts library, and Systemstech made a quick sketch of it connected to the DS1307 real […]
$5000 pick and place
This is a $5000 pick and place by the people who made the reflow oven we bought yesterday. Not as cheap as the $3200 PNP discussed in the forum recently, but we can’t see that one because they are in Shanghai. They demoed with 0402 and it worked quite well and super fast. Even on […]
ElectroDroid electronic’s calc app
Mats Engstrom writes that he’s had positive experience with the ElectroDroid app. He’s had it installed in his phone for some time now finds it useful. “In addition to a lot of pinouts and lists of nice-to-have info the app also has calculators for Ohm’s law, capacitor charge timings, battery life time, voltage dividers, 555 […]
DIY portable CNC machine
Want to show of your cool DIY CNC machine, but it’s just to cumbersome to take it with you? Here’s a portable DIY CNC machine (machine translation). Enclosed inside the plywood box is the CNC, along with a computer running LinuxCNC, a monitor, and an interface controller. The work area is 120mm/40mm/80mm in the X/Y/Z […]
High speed passive component pick and place machine for $3600
Mats tipped us to this high speed pick and place machine that’s currently about $3600 on Taobao. It features 15 automatic reel feeders, and the top speed of the machine is 6000 parts per hour. The placement head can handle parts as small as 0402, but it doesn’t use a vision system so accuracy will […]
Freediag open source vehicle diagnostic suite
Ever wonder what’s happening on your vehicle’s data bus? Here’s an open source software tool suite which hopes to open this data to your Linux box. “Freediag is a suite of vehicle diagnostic protocols and an OBD II (mostly) compliant scanning tool, currently for Linux platforms. Multiple graphical user interfaces for the scan tool are […]
DIY mechanized surface mount tape feeder
In relation to the previously posted Resistor cutting robot, here is a DIY mechanized surface mount tape feeder. The project is mostly made from CNC milled plastic. It’s open source so all the design files are available. This is a simple proof-of-concept of a SMT tape-and-reel part feeder design. The main parts are a stepper […]
Precision 1V reference
Need a precision reference to make sure your measurements are on the nose? Here is a simple breakout Dolabra designed for just that purpose. It’s a ADR510 based battery powered 1V reference, with +0.35% tolerance and 70 ppm/C temperature stability. Via the forum.
Open 7400 first prize winner receives his Analog Discovery bench tool
Matseng shows off the prize he got for taking first place in this years open 7400 contest with his “Constant load with nixie readouts” entry. He chose to get one of the Analog Discovery bench tools Diligent was kind enough to sponsor the contest with. Analog Discovery is a 100 MSPS twin channel oscilloscope, 2 […]
ICDBNavigator Electronic parts organizer
Here’s an open source graphical electronic parts organizer written by WallaceIT, that is available at github. I’d like to share with you a graphical electronic parts organizer written by me in PHP/HTML/Javascript: it’s completely open source (MIT license) and hosted on github. Via the contact form.
PartSim free online circuit simulator
Drone refers us to this browser-based online schematic capture, SPICE simulator, and waveform viewer: PartSim exemplifies the power of browser-based innovations that span technical simulations to social entertainment, allowing anyone to create, simulate, and share electronic circuits directly in their web browser,” said Cody Miller, Aspen Labs president and CEO. “Such tools unlock tremendous productivity, skipping […]
Microchip’s new XC++ compiler
Microchip yesterday announced the XC++ compiler for PIC32 microcontrollers. It’s free to use, but comes with code optimization restrictions in the free version. This compiler adds support for C++ code, and comes with built in Dinkumware template libraries The MPLAB XC32++ supports all of Microchip’s 32-bit PIC32 microcontrollers (MCUs). This compiler enables designers to develop […]
Organizing your surface mount component hoard
Keeping track of all the strips of surface mount components you’ve amassed can be a pain. Some people stick them in large compartmentalized boxes, others get the expensive metal storage drawers. Here is a simple and cheap DIY method to keep your SMD components organized. All you need is a soldering iron, a metal ruler, […]
What’s the latest gear you’ve acquired?
The “I just bought this, and you what did you buy ?” thread is picking up steam. Hak8or’s latest grab is a AmScope SE400 series stereo microscope. It seems to be a popular choice for a good ~$200 microscope, as JuKu, and Matseng have these as well. Got some gear you’re proud off? Share it […]
A simple EMF probe
Always wanted to look at the electro-magnetic soup of signals sloshing around you. Tuomas made a device that let’s you watch these signals on your scope. It consists of an inductor that picks up the signals, and an amplifier that well amplifies them so you could watch them on your scope. Check out a video of Tuomas […]
USB function generator
Tuomas designed a simple function generator controlled via USB. It’s capable of generating sine, square, and triangle waveforms up 3 MHz. The device uses the AD9833 SPI programmable waveform generator IC and a USB-enabled AVR to control it. One tool that I’ve been missing at my lab at home is function generator. They tend to […]
Bearmos’s workshop and DIY tools
Forum regular Bearmos gave us a tour of his workshop and shows off several DIY tools. Check out the pictures below the fold. A thrown together workbench (in use for ~ 6 years now. originally built using an upturned recycling bin as a saw horse). I need to cut a hole in the back of […]
Freescale RF engineering tools app V1.0
If you need to do RF related computations on a regular basis, now there’s an app for that! Freescale has released their FREE RF Engineering Tools App V1.0. “The RF Engineering Tools app is a compilation of calculators and converters that can assist the typical RF designer, university student, professor and other members of the […]